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How to Get Your Dyslexic Child Engaged and Excited About Summer Reading

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Getting your dyslexia child to want to read this summer can sometimes be a challenge. I have students whose moms reveal their kids will simply not pick up a book on their own. They will however, if mom or dad initiates it, and provides a bit of support like reading together, reading aloud or listening on audio. I know these moms are eager to have their children get over the hump and WANT them read just for the sake of pleasure, without coaxing them. It's hard. I totally get that, especially if YOU yourself were an avid reader as a child and still are. There are some things we can do to catch a spark and light the flame, though!

Today, Alison, mom of a dyslexia child is sharing tips to get your kids engaged and excited about summer reading. If you have anything to add to her ideas, please let us know in the comments. Thank you!

How to Get Your Dyslexic Child Engaged and Excited About Summer
Reading

As a child, I looked forward to the endless days of summer when
I could get lost in whatever book I was reading. We didn’t take fancy and
elaborate vacations, so I quenched my wanderlust by jumping into books.

Unfortunately, my dyslexic child does not see reading in the
summer the same way. For her, reading is work. Summer is synonymous with
“no work.” And therein lies the challenge—how do you get your dyslexic
child engaged and excited about summer reading.

Pulling from my experience as a language arts teacher and my own
love for literature, I have come up with a few key strategies you can use to
get your child reading during the summer months. I even have included
some free printables so that you can just “plug and play” these strategies.

We all know how important reading practice is for a dyslexic
child. My daughter gets forty-five minutes of intervention from a trained
Dyslexia specialist each school day. And the one thing her teacher has
instilled in her about the summer is to read, read, read.

My daughter, not unlike most people, loves a good story.
She is highly imaginative and creative. She often times makes up her own
dialogue for at home puppet shows. Comedy routines are her (and our)
favorites. She will spend hours setting up her bedroom to look like a
classroom and enjoy acting out a day at school with her younger siblings.

With her challenges in reading, just lifting the words up off of
the paper and decoding the text is a feat in of itself. Dyslexia does not
allow her the privilege of easily perusing the text allowing her imagination
the freedom to run away into the depths of a fantastical world.

No, for her, comprehension is a struggle because—let’s be
honest—when it takes you a few minutes to read through a sentence—by the time
you have finished decoding the text, you have most likely forgotten the
beginning of the sentence.

I know fluency will come with time. She
has made such great progress since she was diagnosed 8 months ago. I
don’t want her to regress or get “rusty” with her reading. So I have
decided to find ways to keep her engaged in reading through the summer months.

Here are some ideas and strategies that you should use to show
your child that the pleasure and reward from reading outweighs the
effort put in by a landslide.

***The first and most important thing to
consider are your child's interests.***

Think about their interests. What makes your child
tick? What can they talk on and on about without you asking? Are
they technical, mechanical, like to understand how the human body works? Or,
are they fascinated with history? Do they love imaginary play and
creating projects? It is vital to match their interests to their reading
material.

Here are suggestions for books in a few
different categories of interest. Each category may have a mix of fiction and
non-fiction. Some categories overlap.

Book Lists: (Affiliate Links)

Summer Strategies for Getting Kids Engaged
and Excited About Reading:

1. Two For One Deal!

For every 10 minutes they read aloud you will read 20 minutes
aloud of whatever book they want. A little bit of effort for them, and double
the return. Depending on the reading level of your child, you may read a
totally different book to them that they would enjoy but is out of their reach
just yet. You can still get EZ Reader books in all subjects.
It is important for them to read on their level and be read to on
a higher level.

2. Audio Books:

Listening to a book while following along in the text gives them
a more laid back experience with reading. They will strengthen their reading
skills and begin to enjoy reading. The key point is to have them follow
along with the text as it is read aloud. There are several website/services to
make this easy for you and your child.

More than 50,000 audio books geared toward blind, dyslexic,
and other kinds of users. Membership is $99 for the year. Fortunately, my
child’s school district purchases this membership for all students identified
with dyslexia. Her dyslexia specialist set up her account and gave us the
login information.

Similar to Learning Ally, it is free to any student who can
provide proof of dyslexia. I was actually allowed to sign up for a free
account for my daughter by giving them our Learning Ally information to verify.

-Your Local Library:

A great free way to get audio versions of books.

3. Have You Seen It?

Find a movie or video series that you know they would love that
is based on a book or book series. Read the book together then let them watch
the movie. Have a discussion with them after she views the movie
highlighting the differences and/or similarities between the two. I have
created a free printable discussion worksheet for you and your child.

Dyslexic kids are often just exposed to the books that are on
their reading level. And unfortunately, those easy reader level books are
often not the most intriguing. So, if a child believes that this (not so
exciting early reader books) is the most interesting books get, then they walk
away disenchanted with reading.

As parents of dyslexic children, we always strive to provide our
children with the most support possible to encourage a lifetime love of
learning. You know your child best, so take the opportunity to find books
your child will fall in love with and they will be well on their way to
treasure summer reading. And for that matter, reading year-round.

3 comments:

Hello Emily, I just downloaded the Freebie Orton-Gillingham decodable passages. I like them, but they are a little difficult to read. Some of the text seems to be compressed and there are odd spaces. I was hoping to purchase your reading bundle, but don't want to pay for something that will print so oddly. Please help!

I am no longer certain where you're getting your information, however good topic. I needs to spend a while learning much more or working out more. Thank you for fantastic info I used to be looking for this info for my mission. gmail login email

My name is Emily. I am a mom of four, and an educator who loves creating and blogging about all things literacy! As an Orton-Gillingham instructor, I seek to find and create resources to assist children with dyslexia. Thank you for stopping by my blog today!